Windows Phone Thoughts: RIM Evolving Devices, Branching Out Into Smartphones?

Engadget picked up on rumors of a juicy new RIM device, the "Charm": "We’d heard awhile back that Research In Motion was planning a slimmer, more cellphone-like version of the BlackBerry (many of which double as clunky cellphones, of course) codenamed “Charm”. We’d almost completely forgotten about it (hey, there are a TON of gadgets to keep on top of these days), when some photos materialized over the weekend of a new BlackBerry which does indeed look a heck of a lot like a cellphone."

There's a picture of the device on Engadget as well, which makes it look much more like a classic Smartphone form factor than a typical Blackberry. If you look closely at the keyboard, it still has the full alphabet, but using a funky keyboard layout that seems much closer to a dialpad than a Blackberry keyboard.

In my opinion, this is happening because RIM is losing exclusivity on push email. My Samsung i700 is now a pretty serviceable push email client, thanks to Verizon Wireless's Wireless Sync and always-on 1xRTT (utilizing WMPE2003's "dormant CDMA" feature) -- and they support not only the i700, but the i600 WM2003 smartphone and the Treo 600 -- plus it supports over-the-air PIM sync for everything, including Notes. IMHO, RIM is going to have to diversify their product lineup to keep up their marketshare.